How the Xynergi Keyboard Works

While Fairlight estimated Xynergi's retail price at 20,000 euros, which converts to more than $29,000, its actual retail price isn't quite so high. Guitar Center Pro is North America's only distributor of the Xynergi Media Production Center, and its price is only $22,973. For this price, you get the keyboard, a CC-1 card, an SX-20 I/O toolbox and the Xynergi software toolkit. You'll still need a PC (Xynergi is not Mac compatible), monitors, speakers and other input and output devices -- the Xynergi Media Production Center doesn't include them.

After purchasing a Xynergi system, you might find yourself overwhelmed with its functions. Fortunately, Fairlight foresaw this very problem and included an interactive help system called Xplain. To use the Xplain system, you hold down the Xplain button on the keyboard and then press any other key to find out what it does and how to use it. A corresponding help message appears on the pad's screen. You can do this with any button, and the system will helpfully tell you what the function does.

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Some buttons map to shortcuts to other programs. For example, there's a button for Internet Explorer. Pushing that button will launch IE and the keyboard will switch to the QWERTY layout. Users can map keys to specific functions not included in Xynergi's package, though the system may not be able to use its application awareness feature for every program.

Fairlight first began to ship the Xynergi platform out to customers and retailers in September 2007. The first business in the United States to purchase the system was Buzzy's Recording, a studio based in Los Angeles. The company plans on using Xynergi for voice overs and automated dialogue replacement (ADR) [source: Fairlight]. Fairlight expects the system to gain popularity quickly within the audio and video editing industry.

To learn more about Xynergi and topics related to audio and video editing processes, follow the links on the next page.

The System that Goes Up to 11

A tricked-out Xynergi Media Production Center includes:

Two 12-Fader Sidecars, devices that give you more control over digital tracks